Discovery 300Tdi Off Roader

In between doing bits n bobs in the evenings been making some bits up for the interior, I've always wanted overhead switches because it's cool as hell in my eyes lol. So I made a panel up which will go where the sunroof buttons go. I took the motor out and it was dead about a year ago (and the sunroofs are sealed up because they were majorly leaky. So there has always been a gap where the buttons went, never bothered to put them back. This looked like the ideal place to put an overhead switch panel complete with flip switches!

Started out with a piece of cardboard to make the template up, then put it in a vice and slowly bent a curve in two places to match the shape of the hole. Looks harsh but it's the lighting, once you see it painted you can see it's a fairly nice curve.
Worked out at about 6 inches in width across the middle and as I had 5 switch holes to dill out, worked out perfectly to mark a point at every inch on it.
Also drilled out some pilot holes for the screws to hold it into place.


After drilling the pilot holes for the switches I gradually went up in size on the holes (mainly because I couldn't find the correct size drill bit, but in the end I found one that was a perfect fit.


Test fitted one of the switches, fits perfect! Note that it doesn't have the flip cover on the switch at the moment, I'll add that when it all gets put together.


After keying the metal a bit I sprayed some stonechip shield to protect it, mainly because it was all that I had but it also has a nice satin finish to it when dry so makes it look like plastic.


Didn't get a picture of it dry as I did that a few days ago, and done a second coat of paint since. I'm yet to put it all together ready to go in the car, will likely get round to it at the weekend.

Next thing was that I bought a 2.1a x2 USB socket hub (which also has a voltmeter on it) from Amazon in the sale, just saw it come up and liked it so thought why not!

Been thinking where to put it for a while but as I don't have much space on my dash (and I don't think it would look that good). I also thought about putting it in the glove box and center console but if I have my phone set up on the dash for a satnav or something I wouldn't be able to route the cables there easily.

In the end I settled for here! Seemed clean enough, plus gives both the driver and the passenger a space to have something connected. Just got to make a hole in between those two square gaps.




Drilled a hole best as I could, didn't have anything of this size so made a few holes with a bigger drill bit and then cut the rest out as best as I could, then used a Dremel to round the rest off and get the flaky plastic out the way.


Didn't turn out too bad I don't think! I like that it has a waterproof cover to protect it from dust and potentially some splashes of water getting in the sockets. Plus the cover is thin enough to see the volt meter.


Yet to fit the rest into the car but will do at the weekend among the other stuff.

I've also wired in a switch and relay to the fusebox so I can manually isolate everything from the battery for whatever reason e.g. lights and any other accessories. Haven't got any pictures of that but one of the switches will be one of the five on the switch board i've made.

Battery turned up the other day, snug fit!



Works great with my additional hardware connected to the extra connectors Was a little annoying that the positive was larger than the negative because I had to find another nut that would fit and all that were correct sizes had the wrong pitch angle so I had to re-thread one to the correct pitch. Annoying that the battery didn't come with the nuts! Starts the engine a treat though, can definitely tell it was a lot more powerful than the old one!



Finished my overhead switch panel







Only two screws were holding it in for the photo as I was still doing the wiring behind. Currently the far right one is connected to the relay which switches my new fusebox on/off so that acts as the master switch for all the other switches.



Also finished and fitted my USB port. Engine wasn't running which is why it was showing 12.4v, When engine running was showing 13.8v

That overhead switch panel looks good! If you don’t mind me asking, where were the switches from and what current are they rated at?

Rich

Thanks matey, I got them on ebay, they are 20a rated

Just plodding along today doings some small bits.

Fitted genuine OEM rubber bushes to the radius and trailing arms. Thought about using poly bushes but adrenaline4x4 after some discussion said OEM is just better so i thought I'd go with that!

Made good use of my Dad's press to get them in place. Made the job easy! Was just fiddly getting everything lined up so it didn't go in ****ed. Also used some grease to help them slide through. Got there in the end.



At least until I broke a piece of iron I was using as a spacer to lift the arm closer!! It really went with a bang, left my ears ringing for ages.



Damn these things look good, now they're ready for fitting!



Also moved the light bar lights upside down so they don't get knocked off by trees and all that.



Didn't get a picture but also done a bit more undersealing in the inner wings and that, ran out half way before so just finished it all off. They're watertight and rust free! At least for now..

Going to start loosening all the nuts and bolts tomorrow for the radius and trailing arms, may even get time to fit if I am extra awake! (probably not)

cheers for the ebay link to the switches!
Those arms are things of beauty! Fingers crossed you are awake enough tomorrow!!
Rich

Not a problem mate

Well mostly productive day. Thought I would start with the trailing arms as they were easier and I didn't have a lot of time.

Boy I was wrong. No fault to myself though, once they trailing arm was off the new one was on within 15 minutes. Problem was the trailing arm bolt that bolts the trailing arm to the axle. Someone bastard in the past had done it up tight and cross threaded it. Was a proper PITA to get off. Anyway, after an hour I got it off and the new trailing arm was fitted. Got to order a new bolt, the old one is just resting in place for the moment to keep the axle from falling off lol

New vs old. Didn't realize how chunky the new ones are compared to the old ones!



Fitted up with brand new OEM bushes also shame it won't stay this clean for long!



As I didn't have time to fit the other side, I went around and soaked all the other bolts in WD40 (also did that the day before) and loosened some of them to get a start.

Found this appropriate after today lol

Went to my local industrial supply shop, bought a lot of hi-tensile bolts and nyloc nuts. M16 (metric). Couldn't get imperial but these are just as good. Nuts were £1.60 for 10, bolts were £8.80 for 10 also and much better than the Britpart ones on Island 4x4's website (plus would have to pay extortionate postage prices, even though I could drive there that was effort and an hours round trip.) and on ebay the supposedly branded Bearmach branded ones were £7.99 for two!! so I was happy with that, and have some spares



The other side was so easy to fit because this nut wasn't cross-threaded. Replaced with the new ones anyway for peace of mind.

Looks awesome!



The bit I was dreading doing was the radius arms, seemed so much effort, but it was actually super easy. Got most of it done before I ran out of time and had to head off to work. Bushes were shagged on the front end and the ones that meet the body were actually fairly good condition. Either way, in the bin now!



Some comparisons



Lined up the bolt holes to see the difference, these are 6 degree ones so the difference is quite a lot!



Got most of it fitted, front bolt and the rear one. Middle one I can't thread through yet because I can't twist the axle enough with the other side fitted to get it through. Will fit that in tomorrow once I change other the other radius arm. Accidentally scraped the E of the sticker off during fitting lol



Overall, good days work and for November I had a lot of sun and was sweating! Nice treat for working lates. Back to days next week

Finally got all of the arms fitted, wow what a difference it makes! Steering feels much more responsive, articulation is mental, before it felt very stiff and there was a lot of creaks and groans but now it really does flex well! Feels very stable with it too. Much improves my confidence off road I would say.

I do have one new noise though lol, never ends with these land rovers!! The new noise is rotational, so speeds up as I drive and I can feel it in the footwells and steering. Like something spinning is rubbing on something or is loose. I believe it to be the front propshaft that has come a bit loose from the diff. I moved it about the other day and saw that there was a bit of play. Going to get some new propshaft bolts and replace those as they were a bugger to fit last time as I forgot to order new ones.

Didn't get any pictures of them all fitted but I've uploaded enough for now

I'll leave you with this tasty flexing picture!

What's the monkeys name lol

Think I'll name him Bert!

Just a pile of bricks in the background lol

Finally bought a new set of wheels/tyres!

BF Goodrich Mud Terrain TA KM's 33x12.50R15 with about 15mm tread (according to the advert, photo looked like more). Paid 400 quid for a set of FIVE! So I thought that was a good deal. They're in Reading so will likely take the van up there at the weekend to get. Should be good for a little bit more of ground clearance on the diffs.

Also saving up for a double cardan propshaft up front. Had the money to buy it but then the wheels came up and couldn't resist. Looking like I'm going to need some extended arches also so they're also added to the shopping list

Picked up the wheels today, hopefully get round to fitting them tomorrow

The work you are doing is great well done tom i am following this as i am in the process of getting a disco myself so may follow your example lol.
Eggy

eggy said:

The work you are doing is great well done tom i am following this as i am in the process of getting a disco myself so may follow your example lol.
Eggy

Click to expand...

Cheers mate, not a problem at all. Disco's are great cars tons of fun! Enjoy working on it as much as driving it (when i get a chance) lol

So I got my new wheels, can show you all a bit better representation of the tread on them now, as you can see they have loads! So for 380 squids for 5. Although the 5th has considerably less tread than the rest, it's good to have a spare that's at least similar size to the rest to get me home in trouble.

I know the weight of the thing and it sinking into the grass a little will make a change to the height but you can see they are a lot bigger! Definitely wider for sure!




I was expecting the BFG's to be heavier than the special tracks because of the extra size, but I was very wrong. the special tracks were heavy as **** compared! Hopefully less unspung weight may help the performance a little lol...


Before fitting


After fitting






Couldn't fit the 33 to the rear wheel carrier, and wasn't sure what to do so it's in the boot for now. Some further research once I got home said that if I turn the carrier upside down and or move it up a bolt hole should help. So i'll give that a go when I'm next there!



And just for the laughs, a standard sized discovery wheel (albeit with low tread) against the monster 33's lol


Also treated myself to another Christmas present for the disco which will be arriving in coming days... Will update when it arrives but it's the final piece in the puzzle for now!

And so my very expensive part has now arrived



Gwyn Lewis Double Cardan front propshaft

Should last a while... obviously will be taken extra care of regularly greasing as I am not having this thing fail lol